1271(518)-1302(549) (Ætas ab Brian)
From Alternative History
History of Rome-After Ætas ab Brian
| !Past 1244(491)-1271(518) | Senate-Caesar Compromise: 1271(518)-1302(549) | Future! 1302(549)-1333(580) |
Next appointed was Gnaes Crvvxivs at 45. Gnaes was born in Italia and was the first Italian Emperor in hundreds of years. These days, Emperors left the capital less and less frequently since running the empire took the combined strength of the Senate and Caesar to keep it smooth. Raids by Saharan rebels continued to threaten Africa’s prosperous ports and in response, in 1275(522) Crvvxivs had his generals expand the borders into Africa to create a buffer. Many nomad tribes were killed and those not usually died off from the Roman monopoly of the crucial oases between their natural trade routes. Trade from equatorial Africa suffered but the increased demand helped Nubian and Habasiahn markets expand further. The Kushite Patrol Legion was expanded and now guarded most of Rome’s southern borders. Carthago and Cyrene were no longer troubled though the new regions had to become partially under the Emperors control when officially the regions belonged to the Senatorial provinces.
1279(526) An earthquake in Antioch kills 250 000 people.
The Caesar's expansions caused a bit of a problem in 1282(529). Sure his majesty was just protecting them but he was also fundamentally violating the Senate’s constitution by having Imperial troops within the agreed boundaries of a Senatorial province. The only solution to avoid both civil war and invasion was to further integrate the position of Senate and Emperor in order for understanding and clear-cut status to be achieved. This was a reluctant and in some cases feared agreement but the Praetorians would tolerate only so much argument and acted as mediators to help in compromises. Now the Emperor and Senate were almost completely on level fields of authority and this fact was totally clear in the amendments to the Constitution. Now the Senate had influence and could make decisions on where to make war and how much to do so of. It was lucky that these laws also expanded the Praetorian Guard and its standards to additionally guard the Senate- the Praetorian’s secondary nature being to weed out corruption and weakness in the government where conventional laws failed. This gave the Senate the intelligence and attitude to fit their expanded responsibility. In the end a definite border in all but name divided Africa Proconsvlaris and Aegyptvs into the Senatorial and Caesarian halves. Crvvxivs’ rule was from then on routine but for the Goths in the Caucasvs who were showing signs of rebuilding their identity. Their lot would have to be taken care of.
1297(544)-1302(549) There was an outbreak of a serious plague in the eastern provinces, apparently originating from Nubia and Habasiah. Dsitributed by the vital grain shipment routes, the disease and its hosts (rats and fleas) spread across the east, causing the most death in Byzantium where for a time it was killing almost 4000 people a day. Quarantines and the burning of many shipments from the east caused large amounts of hunger, but it also cut the plague down to just 5 years with less than 20 million dead. It appeared that with the continued growth and increasing density of the Empire, diseases were having an easier time of becoming pandemic.
Crvvxivs died in 1302(549) at 72, not from the plague.
| !Past 1244(491)-1271(518) | Senate-Caesar Compromise: 1271(518)-1302(549) | Future! 1302(549)-1333(580) |
